Learn Again

Six

A/N: Hopefully this one was a little longer than the other ones. I'm working on it, but it's really hard to break the habit, haha. :3

"Grace!" Julia squealed. "Come on, come on!" She dug her nails into Grace's arm, and dragged her to the entrance of the school.

"What is it?" Grace asked irritably. "I need to work on homework."

"No, Grace! I heard there's a new transfer student."

"So?" Grace was not impressed.

"He's a guy. And he's hot."

Grace sighed. "Look, I gotta go, Julia."

"Grace, wait, here he is now!"

Grace reluctantly looked in the direction Julia pointed. And the guy was pretty hot, in all honesty. With black hair and brown eyes, he looked a mix of half Asian, half Caucasian. But for some reason, she wasn't really interested—perhaps because of a certain annoying player that had caught her attention?

No. Grace shook her head hurriedly. That was definitely not the reason. She was not infatuated with Alex. But if that was so, then why did her heart beat faster every time he looked at her with those smoldering green eyes?

"Hey. Uh, can you help me?"

Grace turned her head to the new unfamiliar voice. It was the new guy. "Hi," she smiled politely. "What's up?"

He ducked his head. "My name's Jake. I'm, uh, new here. I was wondering if you could show me where my class is? I have...uh." He looked down at his schedule. "I have Statistics next," he said, smiling slightly.

"Sure. I have that class next, too. I can walk with you. My name's Grace, by the way." She paused, looking from side to side. "Julia!"

Julia popped up, eyes shining. "Yeah?" She glanced to the side, and then blushed immediately. "Hi."

He smiled affably in return. "Hi. You must be Julia. I'm Jake."

Julia glanced at the ground shyly. "Hi, Jake. It's nice to meet you."

Grace grinned, noticing how Julia reacted. Crush? She mouthed, winking. Alex was a fortunate guy. Julia was gorgeous and kind as well.

Julia blushed even harder. Shut up, she mouthed back.

Grace smiled. They would make an adorable couple. She then turned to Jake. "So, how do you like school so far?"

He grinned crookedly. "It's pretty good. I met these really pretty girls who are showing me to my class." He winked at them.

Grace rolled her eyes while Julia blushed to the roots of her hair. "Funny." Grace replied. "Let's get to class. We'll tell you more about the school on the way."

Jake raised one shoulder. "Sounds good to me."

~

Grace sighed. "What are you doing, Alex?" She stopped and cocked a hip, looking at him expectantly.

"Go on," he waved. "I just want to see something."

Grace rolled her eyes and continued walking. Alex followed her, a few steps behind. "Hey, Grace?"

"What?"

"How do you make your ass jiggle?"

Grace stared at him for a moment. "Excuse me?"

"How do you make your ass jiggle?" Alex repeated, enunciating the words slowly and clearly.

A light blush settled on Grace's cheeks. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Alex nodded toward her. "You know, when you're walking. How come your ass jiggles?"

Grace choked. "You know what? Let's just go to lunch." She quickly pushed through the cafeteria doors and sat next to Julia. "Hi Julia, hi Jake." She smiled at both of them.

Alex plopped down in the seat next to her. "Who's the guy?" he asked rudely, staring at Jake.

Jake raised an eyebrow. Grace shrugged apologetically. "This is Jake," she replied. "He's new. Jake, meet Alex. You can call him douchebag, though."

Julia started to laugh, but disguised it it badly as a cough at Alex's glare. Jake smiled. "Nice to meet you, bro."

Alex turned to the side. "Whatever." He looked at Grace. "Why don't we eat at my table, for once?"

Grace looked at him strangely. "Why? My friends are here, and I don't like you or your friends," she added sweetly.

"Fine," Alex retorted moodily. He turned to the side, sulking.

For the rest of lunch, he stayed silent, only opening his mouth to interrupt Jake whenever he talked to Grace.

At the end of lunch, they stood up, ready to head to their next class. "Grace, I need to talk to you." He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the side.

Julia looked questioningly at her. Go ahead, she mouthed. Julia shrugged and walked on with Jake. Good. They would get some alone time.

"What do you want, Alex?" Grace sighed.

Alex seemed to run out of words. "I, uh."

"Spit it out."

"Do you like that Jake guy?"

Grace snorted. "No! He's just a friend."

Alex shrugged. "Alright then. Let's get to class." He walked away without checking that Grace was following.

Grace hurried forward to catch up. Alex was so weird.

~

Sweat dripped down the side of Alex's face as he aimed punches at the punching bag. "Stupid new boy...going around...flirting..." He panted in between punches. "All buddy buddy...with Grace...what a...dick." He stopped abruptly, hunching over and grabbing his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He punched the bag one more time, pretending that it was Jason's (or was it Josh?) pretty boy face.

Alex grinned. He wouldn't be so pretty then, with a nice black eye, now would he?

Alex wiped the perspiration off his face, and then grabbed a towel. He didn't know why he was so worked up about Grace and the new guy. If they wanted to hook up, fine with him.

The way his knuckles turned white as he gripped the towel tightly in his clenched fist, though, begged to differ.

Because for some reason, the thought of Grace with anyone else—the thought of her kissing, loving, or even touching made his stomach turn painfully and left him with the desire to punch something.